Old and Young
by TwinkleLights123
Summary: Luke makes Annabeth feel old. Percy, on the other hand, makes her feel young. She hates it though. Kind of. Not really. Not at all.


Luke makes Annabeth feel old.

She was only seven, a child, but he makes her feel as if she was ten years older; afterall, he's laid out a lot of expectations and responsibilites for her. Maybe that was an exaggeration. She liked to take charge of their little group (Thalia, Luke and herself). She liked planning with Thalia, and staying up late at absurd hours to fight monsters and hone her skills.

But she'd never learned to have fun (which is primary to little kids) unless you count fighting monsters fun. But who enjoyed killing, and killing, and _more_ killing every day and night?

She only stands it because she loves Luke.

Or so she tells herself.

. . .

Not much has changed.

She's twelve and he's nineteen yet she feels just as old as him, if not more.

He's alone; yet not.

Girls fawn over him like leeches ("Luke, this sword is so heavy; can you help me?" "Luke, would you like to 'train' with me?" "Luke, baby!") and boys want to be him. So he's always training, hanging out with his 'friends' or occassionally being stalked by fans. But Annabeth knows him, _really _knows him, and she can see his smiles and laughs are a little forced, and she can quite clearly see that he's very much alone.

Because Thalia's gone now, but Luke visits her tree more often then ever. Nevertheless, Thalia's _gone, gone, gone_ (much to everyone's regret) so why won't he focus on _her_?

Even though every day she would drop by the Hermes cabin and see how he's doing, she's sure Luke will never see her in the light he saw Thalia. She feels like his mother and not his—What was she to him? A friend? A lover? What?—close friend.

One day, when she's leaving, she hears a shout and she and Chiron check to see who (or what) it is.

There are some remains of a monster, a horn and two people. An unconscience satyr, Grover, and a scrawny boy with messy black hair and the most (beautiful) green (sea green) eyes she's ever seen.

. . .

Percy makes Annabeth feel her age; young and free, and yet she hates it.

She _hates_ changes.

And she hates how easily he waltzes into her heart.

'I don't like him,' she denies when people ask. And tons of people ask, especially the annoying Aphrodite girls. And some of them even have the nerve to ask if he has a cell phone.

'Bloody buttmunches,' she thinks angrily. 'He's just some new kid that I have to tutor.'

Later, she goes on her first, desprately wanted, quest.

With Percy (and Grover).

When she comes back, it's amazing. The applause, the warm campfire which she secretly missed, a new bead to add on (she's kind of proud to see the trident added to her necklace) and having a new companion—no, _friend_ to stand by her and protect her. But she'd rather pitch herself off a cliff before admitting Percy can protect her; she's a proud feminist.

She's proved herself worthy and she's had an adventure. A wild, dangerous adventure with so many high stakes. Honestly, a war between the Gods? She's pretty proud to say that she helped stop it.

But something's wrong.

She only realizes it when she's notified that Percy's in the infirmary because of Luke.

The one she admired.

The one who's been there since she was seven.

The one she (supposedly) loved.

_The one that makes her feel as old as Lord Zeus himself._

She's lost to who she should choose.

. . .

When Percy wakes up, he sees blonde curls, (stormy, intelligent, _beautiful_) grey eyes and a smirk.

* * *

**A/N: PLEASE READ. Hey guys! :) *dodges tomatoes* I'm _really _sorry I haven't been updating. But I'm going to start writing again because it's summer break. Hopefully I'll be able to update No Matter What, but if not, you can still expect other work from me soon! I'm trying to write in different styles (third-person, diary-style, etc.)****, it's like a challenge to me... from myself. I'll still write first-person, as it's my favourite, but don't be suprised if you see something else. :) Anyways, this was my first time writing in third-person. (I edited really quickly, if there are mistakes, feel free to tell me) Was it alright? I would _love _feedback, as usual. :)**

**~TL**

**Disclaimer: PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS BELONGS TO RICK RIORDAN... SADLY.**

**P.S. This one-shot is kind of random; it was inspired by another story with the summary, 'you make me feel twelve again.' I didn't _mean _to put Percabeth in it, but it's my favourite pairing and I probably snuck in a bit. By accident though, I swear. I also didn't mean to make it kinda... angsty? And it was suppose to be a drabble at first which obviously failed. Anyways, review! You know you want to. ;)**


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